Darmok (episode)
Picard is captured, then trapped on a planet with an alien captain who speaks a metaphorical language incompatible with the universal translator. They must learn to communicate with each other before the beast of the planet overwhelms them. Summary Teaser :"Captain's log, stardate 45047.2. The Enterprise is ''en route to the uninhabited El-Adrel system, its location is near the territory occupied by an enigmatic race known as The Children of Tama." The is on a mission to attempt to establish communications between the Federation and the Tamarians after several previous attempts had failed. The ''Enterprise and the Tamarian vessel make a rendezvous in orbit of El-Adrel IV. The two parties try to communicate but, like the occasions before, neither party can comprehend what the other party is saying. Captain Dathon disarms his first officer of a knife-like weapon and suddenly both he and Captain Picard are transported off of their ships to the surface of El-Adrel IV. Act One Immediately after the transport, the Tamarian vessel projects a scattering field in the ionosphere of the planet, preventing both the Enterprise and themselves from using their transporters and blocking communications. However, sensors can still penetrate the scattering field, allowing either party to monitor Picard and Dathon. On the surface of El-Adrel IV, Picard and Dathon once again try to communicate, as Dathon passes one of the two knives to Picard. Picard assumes that Dathon wants to engage in combat and refuses to take his knife. Picard cannot understand the terms that Dathon is using and both men become frustrated with their failure. As nightfall approaches, Picard is still stuck on the planet's surface. He tries to make a fire, but cannot. Dathon then does something akin to prayer and goes to sleep, taking one of his knives for protection. However, he cannot sleep knowing that Picard will go through the night cold. Dathon takes a branch from his fire and throws it to Picard. He says "Temba, his arms wide." While Picard does not understand what or who Temba is, he understands that Dathon is trying to help him, and thanks him for the fire. Act Two :"First Officer's log, supplemental. I am sending a shuttlecraft to find Captain Picard, gambling that the Tamarians will sit tight rather than risk an exchange of phaser fire." Lieutenant Worf attempts to take a shuttlecraft to the surface of El-Adrel IV to rescue Captain Picard. As they begin to descend, the Tamarian vessel fires upon the shuttle and disable the starboard nacelle, forcing it to return to the Enterprise. Lieutenant Commander Data and Counselor Troi analyze the log of the communication between themselves and the Tamarians and consult the ship's computer with the words and names mentioned and find several commonalities. Data and Troi deduce that the Tamarian language is entirely based on metaphors derived from their own experience and mythology, making their language extremely difficult to understand because without knowing the people or things in the metaphor, the metaphor is impossible to comprehend. Lieutenant Commander La Forge and Ensign Lefler then attempt to modify the transporters to transport Captain Picard through the dampening field. The following morning, on the planet's surface, Picard and Dathon are still no better off in their attempts to communicate with one another. Picard notices that Dathon repeatedly uses the phrase "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra", but he does not understand who or what they were. Dathon is still insistent in giving Picard one of the knives, but again Picard refuses. They hear a loud roar in the distance and rocks fall from the cliffs behind the two men, and Picard realizes that Dathon and he are not alone on the planet's surface. Act Three Worf detects a highly localized EM disturbance in fairly close proximity to Picard and Dathon, and it is approaching them. La Forge, Lefler and Chief O'Brien are almost ready to attempt to beam Captain Picard back aboard the Enterprise. As the creature approaches Picard and Dathon, Picard realizes that Dathon is not offering him the knife to fight him, but to arm him against the creature, and accepts the weapon. When Dathon speaks again, referring to what sounds like a battle plan, Picard understands that the Tamarians communicate by metaphor. Dathon utters a phrase that sounds like he was relieved that Picard finally understands why the knife was offered. The creature attacks Dathon and Picard wounds it, but the creature strikes Picard. The Enterprise makes its attempt to transport Picard while the creature is pummeling Dathon. Picard is furious with being transported just as he and Dathon are beginning to understand each other. The transport fails and Picard is left on the planet as the creature moves away from Dathon. Act Four :"First Officer's log, stardate 45048.8. Our attempt to transport Captain Picard back to the ship has failed. My options are narrowing and my patience is all but gone." The Tamarians raise the scattering field to a higher level of the planet's ionosphere, making transport impossible and forcing the crew to devise a new way to bring the captain back to the Enterprise. The Enterprise s sensors show that Dathon's life signs are fluctuating and they know that the Tamarians know this also, but, surprisingly, no action is taken by the Tamarians to save their captain. Back on El-Adrel IV, Picard lies down with a dying Dathon and asks him about Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra. It seems that Darmok and Jalad were two legendary travelers, strangers who faced and defeated a common enemy on the island of Tanagra. Picard realizes that Dathon knew of the creature and brought them both here so that they could re-enact the events between Darmok, Jalad and "the Beast" at Tanagra. Dathon's hope was that by facing a common enemy, the two sides could learn to understand one another. Now that Picard understands how the Tamarians communicate, Dathon wants to hear one of his stories. Picard recites a story from Earth, very similar to that of Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra, about Gilgamesh and Enkidu at Uruk, how two enemies became friends through hardship. Dathon appears impressed and amused by Picard's story. Dathon dies during the night, but not in vain, as he has become the first Tamarian to successfully establish communications between his people and the Federation. Act Five :"First Officer's log, supplemental. Despite the risk of war, I have no choice but to break the stalemate." Back on the Enterprise, La Forge and his staff have developed a way to disable the Tamarians' scattering field - by firing a highly focused single phaser beam from the front torpedo bay at the generator on the Tamarian vessel. Commander Riker gives the order to fire on the Tamarian vessel. The shot disables the generator, allowing Chief O'Brien to beam Captain Picard aboard just as the creature is about to attack him again. The Tamarians return fire, severely damaging the Enterprise. As Picard returns to the bridge, he orders hailing frequencies to be opened with the Tamarian vessel. The Tamarians reply angrily but they quickly calm down when Picard addresses them in metaphor. He explains that although the mission was a success as far as establishing communications between the two peoples, Dathon gave his life to accomplish it. This successful contact will henceforth be known as the story of "Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel". Picard later reads Homeric epics in his ready room, explaining to Riker that maybe more familiarity with their own mythology may help them relate to the Tamarians. Picard notes to Riker that Dathon sacrificed his life in hope of communication, and wonders if he would have been willing to do the same. Riker leaves the ready room, and Picard picks up the knife and looks out of the ready room window into space while repeating the possibly religious gestures he saw Dathon engage in, paying silent tribute to his fallen comrade. Memorable quotes "Darmok, and Jalad... at Tanagra." : - Dathon (meant as a metaphor to fight a common enemy) "Picard and Dathon... at El-Adrel." : - New Captain of the Tamarians (referring to Dathon and Picard's experience at El-Adrel) "Shaka, when the walls fell." : - Dathon and Picard (repeated often by both) (meant as a metaphor to failure) "I have encountered 1,754 non-Human races during my tenure in Starfleet." : - Data (reference to the breadth of alien races in the Star Trek universe) "Temba, his arms wide!" : - Dathon (meant as a metaphor for giving and receiving) "That's how you communicate, isn't it? By citing example... by metaphor! Uzani's army... with fists open..." "Sokath, his eyes uncovered!" (meant as a metaphor to comprehension) : - Picard and Dathon "Darmok, and Jalad... on the ocean." "Darmok and Jalad... they left ''together." : - '''Dathon' and Picard "Now the door is open between our peoples. That commitment meant more to him than his own life." : - Picard "Picard of the Federation. Of the ''Enterprise." : - '''Picard', still not understanding Dathon's language Background Information Story and production *This episode had the longest gestation period of any episode during Michael Piller's tenure, taking around two years to make it to the screen. Rick Berman hated the premise, but Piller thought it was interesting and was determined to make it work, so he finally gave it to Joe Menosky. (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages) *The inability to communicate had been the central theme of Philip LaZebnik's premise, but it was Menosky who worked out the Tamarian's language of allusion and metaphor. Menosky changed the premise from a complex "ant farm" visit to a more straight-forward examination of the two strong commanders, Picard and Dathon. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion) *The story about Gilgamesh and Enkidu is from the , a Babylonian poem which is one of the earliest known literary works (2150 BC-2000 BC). The story of Gilgamesh and Enkidu at Uruk is itself a metaphor for the situation of Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel: two people, initially combatants, come together to become friends and fight a common foe, a battle in which one of them is struck down and the other mourns his loss. (Mission Overview: Year Five, TNG Season 5 DVD special features) *The word "Darmok" is said to have 47 meanings, a repeating of the theme of the number 47 in the series. Continuity *This is the first episode which introduces a new captain's uniform: a gray undershirt with an open red jacket. Although the jacket has a black yoke like the standard uniforms, the yoke is made of a material that looks like leather and has a quilted pattern. Also, the red portion of the jacket is made from a material that looks like suede. *This episode marks the first appearance of the type 6 shuttlecraft. *Paul Winfield was previously seen in as the ill-fated Captain Clark Terrell. *This episode marks the first appearance of Ensign Robin Lefler, who later played an important part in discovering the conspiracy in the episode . *This episode is also notable as it is the only time a phaser beam is emitted from the main photon torpedo tube. It is admitted to be a post-production mistake in the Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion. Of the mistake, Rick Berman said the producers received hundreds of letters from fans pointing it out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9HcSB9WDTQ Reception *On Menosky's effort, Piller commented, "I just think "Darmok" is the prototype of what ''Star Trek should be. It dealt with a very challenging premise and many of our best shows are scripts that have been around a long time...He created a whole language for that episode and it's just astonishing. The episode worked on every level; it had the philosophy dealing with language and what it does for us, two great acting performances, it had a monster and a space battle – it had everything." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages) *Director Winrich Kolbe commented that he had mixed feelings on the episode. "''Storywise, it was a hell of a story. It was almost flawless. It tangled a very interesting subject and a very complicated subject as well, and I think it did it well." However, he felt somewhat constrained in how he could film the planet scenes with the monster. Furthermore, he noted the difficulty in directing scenes in an alien language. "Can you imagine not speaking Russian and...having to write an article in Russian? It makes it kind of difficult. Even though I had a translation of the dialogue, it wasn't quite there and for me it was like directing a Russian movie without speaking the language, but you work your way through it. So that was an additional challenge. The episode seems to have struck a chord. It's a show we can all be proud of." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages) *Despite his initial resistance to the idea, Berman later named "Darmok" as one of his all-time favorite episodes. (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages) *Patrick Stewart commented, "If you're talking about awards, "Darmok" is something that should have won awards because it was a brilliantly written episode based on the myth of Gilgamesh and with one of our most distinguished guest stars, Paul Winfield." (Mission Overview: Year Five, TNG Season 5 DVD special features) *This episode has been used by linguistics teachers to aid in students' understanding of how languages work and evolve. (Mission Overview: Year Five, TNG Season 5 DVD special features; http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/03/030203.landahl.shtml) * The potentialities of this episode's premise led Doctor Who writer and producer to write the episode "Midnight" for Doctor Who. "I've seen lots of ''Star Trek: The Next Generation, I think it's a lovely show - but there's one episode, the billing for which is so fascinating I've actively avoided ever seeing it," Davies explained. "''I love the idea so much, I'd rather think about it. Forever. The episode is called 'Darmok', and the synopsis simply says that Captain Picard is trapped on a planet with an alien who can only talk in metaphors. Wow. That sounds brilliant. How does that work? What happens? How does it end? I've got no idea - not seen it! But it keeps resonating with me. I've just looked up its TX date, and it's almost 20 years old. I've been thinking about that story and its potential for almost 20 years! Would it have sustained itself for that long in my head if I'd seen it on BBC2, long ago in 1991? I think the mystery keeps the concept alive. Here I am, still wondering, right now! And I can see the idea bleeding into my own work. In 2008, I wrote a ''Doctor Who episode called 'Midnight'. Is it like 'Darmok'? I don't know. But stripped down to its essentials, it's a story about a hero, an alien, and words. That's practically the same billing. Maybe the two shows are profoundly different, but I know for a fact that all those years of wondering about 'Darmok' led me to that script." (SFX, issue #200, p. 140) Video and DVD releases *Original UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 51, *As part of the UK VHS collection ''Star Trek: The Next Generation - 10th Anniversary Collector's Edition under the "Picard" section, *UK re-release (three-episode tapes, Paramount Home Entertainment): Volume 5.1, *As part of the TNG Season 5 DVD collection *As part of both Region 1 and 2 releases of the Star Trek: The Next Generation - Jean-Luc Picard Collection *As part of the Star Trek: Fan Collective - Captain's Log collection Links and references Starring * Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard * Jonathan Frakes as Commander William T. Riker Also starring * LeVar Burton as Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge * Michael Dorn as Lieutenant Worf * Gates McFadden as Doctor Beverly Crusher * Marina Sirtis as Counselor Deanna Troi * Brent Spiner as Lieutenant Commander Data Guest stars * Paul Winfield as Dathon * Richard Allen as Tamarian first officer * Colm Meaney as Miles O'Brien * Ashley Judd as Robin Lefler Uncredited co-stars * Cameron as Ensign Kellogg * Tracee Lee Cocco as Ensign Jae * Norman Hunte as Tamarian officer * Michael Moorhead as science division ensign * Rex Pierson as El-Adrel IV lifeform * Keith Rayve as a command division officer * Milan Ruba as Tamarian officer * Joyce Robinson as Ensign Gates References 47; bioscan; bull; Children of Tama; Darmok; Gallos II; Gilgamesh; El-Adrel IV; El-Adrel system; Enkidu; Jalad; Kanda IV; linguistic database; Magellan; Malindi VII; Malindi system; mythology; Razna V; Lerishi IV; Shantil III; Shiku Maru; Silvestri; T'Lani; Tamarian deep space cruiser; Tamarian language; Tamarians; Tanagra (island); Tanagra (beverage); Tanagra family; universal translator; Uruk External link * * |next= }} de:Darmok (Episode) es:Darmok fr:Darmok (épisode) ja:TNG:謎のタマリアン星人 nl:Darmok (aflevering) pl:Darmok (odcinek) Category:TNG episodes